


All the Time We've Got

by magic_miraculous



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cue shenanigans!, Daminette, Everyone is so oblivious I love it, F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non-hero AU (but they have been heroes), Soulmate AU, This is going to be a Fun Time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-01-27 03:21:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21385243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magic_miraculous/pseuds/magic_miraculous
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng needs a fresh start, so she applies to the University of Gotham. Of course, she gets in.So does Damian Wayne.In their world, everyone has a soulmate counter on their wrist which indicates how many minutes a pair of soulmates have spent near each other. Both Marinette's and Damian's counters have always said 'Zero.'At least until the day they didn't, anyway.The only problem? They didn't see who the other was.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste x Jon Kent, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug's Parents, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, maribat - Relationship
Comments: 22
Kudos: 425





	1. Chapter 1-- Life Begins Anew

The counter still read ‘Zero’ after all these years. Marinette was forever searching for whoever she was destined to be with; she knew it wasn’t anyone at her school, or in her neighborhood. Maybe not anyone in Paris. She had been disappointed that Adrien wasn’t her soulmate, of course-- his counter also read ‘Zero’ last time they spoke, but given how often they were around each other their counters would’ve had numbers in the millions.

Alya and Nino had a count of at least 2.6 million. They were attached at the hip since the first day Alya walked into Ms. Bustier’s classroom five years earlier and her and Nino’s counters beeped. They both looked down at their wrists, at the new numbers, and then at each other. Big smiles covered their faces as Nino stood up and walked over to his soulmate. That was the beginning of one of the cutest romances the school had ever seen. Even after Alya took Lila’s side, Marinette was happy for her friend.

College and lycee passed with the blink of an eye. Between the drama and the homework and working at the bakery and saving Paris as Ladybug, Marinette had more than enough on her plate to keep her occupied. It was finally time for University, and after the defeat of Hawkmoth a year before, Marinette finally had a chance to leave the city for more than a few hours without intense fear paralyzing her. She still woke up in a cold sweat sometimes, dreaming about the battle and the revelations that came with Hawkmoth’s demise. She and Chat Noir-- sorry, Adrien-- had grown apart since then, and she didn’t blame him for it. Losing both of his parents in such a traumatic way made a huge impact on his mental state, and ever since he’d been a bit…  _ different _ . Less talkative, even more secluded than before, pouring himself into his schoolwork. He wanted to be a social worker after University, he told Marinette. She was happy for him, and she was glad he’d found a calling that could help him deal with his trauma as much as it would help others.

Chat Noir and Ladybug no longer patrolled the streets, no longer fought akumas or other villains who appeared in Paris. They left the police to do their jobs, and retired the Miraculous. It was a hard decision, but one that needed to be done. Master Fu was more than capable of watching the ring and the earrings, along with the rest of the items in the Miracle Box, and he agreed that in time Marinette would take over his job in conjunction with her fashion career. She already had a whole Miraculous-themed clothing line, but she hadn’t mentioned that to anyone yet. It was her little secret, her passion project that distracted her from the mundanity of her current life.

Everything changed the day she got the acceptance letter from Gotham University. She texted Adrien right away, and he responded with a picture of his acceptance letter for the University of London. She finally had a chance to escape the streets that constantly reminded her of everything that went wrong in her youth, all the pain and suffering and neglect. Sure, there were some good moments, like the sleepover she and Adrien had in the park last summer before it started to rain, or the snowball fights she had with her parents when she was younger, or working in the bakery with her family (Adrien included, of course). But still, she needed distance. She would return one day, but first she needed to fix herself, far away from France.

It was late August when she packed her belongings into two large suitcases. Even though she wasn’t taking everything she owned, her room still looked bare when she finished. She looked around the room and sighed.  _ Au revoir, Paris, _ she thought before climbing down the trap door for the last time in the foreseeable future.

_ Off to Gotham. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
This is my first fic on here, so I really hope you like it!  
I'm always open to feedback, and I'd love to hear what everyone thinks!
> 
> Find me on tumblr and Ko-Fi @magic-miraculous!


	2. Chapter 2-- Lost in the Crowd

Marinette had been in in Gotham for almost two weeks when it happened.

Classes had only started the day before (she’d gotten there a few days earlier than most students, both because she was a freshman and because she was a foreign student), and Marinette was still getting the hang of her schedule. Any veteran student of Gotham University knew which areas of campus to avoid when going from class to class, especially around the lunch hour; Marinette made every mistake in the book. She walked down all the busiest paths, went across the crosswalk that was notorious for never giving pedestrians the green light to walk, and hurried through the main quad as the lunch hour ended.

It was chaos in the quad, with other freshmen and transfers trying to figure out which way to go and getting lost in the crowd. Marinette dodged and weaved through the mass of people and came out the other side relatively unscathed. Well, almost unscathed.

A beep coming from her wrist caught her attention, and she gasped.

Her counter had a ‘1’ on it.

Almost nineteen years had passed without the counter ever changing. She’d heard it beep for other people, of course, but her beep sounded different. It sounded exhausted.  _ Finally! It took you long enough _ , it was saying, and Marinette agreed. The only problem was, who had set it off?

Marinette turned around to face the crowd, but the sea was faceless and she didn’t see anyone else looking for her, nobody else having a similar crisis. Everyone else in the world was going about their day without a care, not even noticing that Marinette’s life had just changed completely.

She would’ve continued to search, but a buzz from her phone indicated it was time for class. She couldn’t afford to be late here; she no longer had the Ladybug excuse, and after her grades faltered so much in college and lycee she was determined to do better here. She would be a star student, join a bunch of clubs, make a name for herself so that when she joined Audrey Bourgeois after graduation, she would have a base to stand on. It was all planned out.

She would have to come back later, praying whoever her soulmate was would be back later too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a shorter chapter, but I felt like where I ended it was the most natural spot I could find. And I promise, Damian will be making a real appearance soon!
> 
> Find me on tumblr and ko-fi @magic-miraculous!


	3. A Decision Must be Made

Damian had never liked the idea of soulmates. His mother called them impractical and a liability, and his siblings were so sappy with theirs that he never wanted to be associated with a relationship like that.

Still, curiosity did hit him at times. What would it be like to have a soulmate, to have someone who would love you despite your past, even during the hard times?

He hadn’t thought about soulmates in a while, but when Jon called him from London to tell him his counter had a ‘1’ last week, he started considering the possibility again. He was just starting at Gotham University, business major of course (because what else would he end up doing, being the Wayne he is?). Jon was in London, the Titans were in Jump City, and his siblings and father were scattered across Gotham. He was on his own in a dorm room, for the most part.

Or he would be, if Dick didn’t insist on visiting him on campus, just after his second class of the day.

“I forgot how busy this area is,” Dick said as he and Damian walked through the quad. “Everyone looks so lost. I remember when I was like that; an idiot freshman, just like you! So naive, thinking college would be fun, time to relax. It’s a miracle my roommate didn’t figure out I was… well, you know,” he trailed off, realizing that even though everyone around them was conversing and doing their own thing, he shouldn’t say anything about his alter ego in public.

“And that is why I requested a single room,” Damian replied, looking down at his phone. Jon had texted him again, this time with a picture of the counter on his wrist and the number ‘4’. Good for him.

“Hey, what’s up with your counter?” Dick asked, grabbing Damian’s arm. Before Damian could protest, Dick dropped it. “Wow, Demon Spawn! I never thought I’d see the day that your counter changed!”

Damian blinked a few times, then looked down at his wrist. Just as Dick had said, his counter no longer had a ‘Zero’, but a blinking ‘1’ in the center.

“Oh.”

“Really? That’s all you have to say? Your soulmate is somewhere around here! We have to find them!” Dick started scanning the area they’d just come from, but couldn’t tell if anyone was looking for Damian. (Unbeknownst to them, Marinette was on the other side of the crowd doing exactly that.) “Come on, help me out. They’re your soulmate, after all!”

Damian didn’t know what he wanted to do. All the potential scenarios he’d considered, his personal debates on the matter as he sat in the dark at 3 a.m., all the talks with his brothers and father and Jon did absolutely nothing to help him now. The real thing was too different than what he’d considered, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to meet his soulmate quite yet. One day, probably, but not today.

“Drop it, Grayson. If you want to go to lunch, we have to go now. I have class in an hour. My soulmate isn’t important.”

“Isn’t important?” Dick spluttered.

“Isn’t important  _ right now _ ,” Damian clarified.

The brothers shared a look, and Dick nodded. “Okay. Fine. That doesn’t mean I’m never going to bring it up again, though.”  
“How could I ever think you’d let me off so easily?” Damian drawled before looking at his phone again. “Fifty-eight minutes now.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s go. By the way, Alfred and Tim have already sent their congratulations.”

Damian frowned. “What? When did you even have time to tell them?”

“You know you zoned out for like a whole minute, right?”

Damian did not know that.

“Oh, Jason says good job and send pics.”

“Tell him to screw off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian has finally arrived! Yay!
> 
> Find me on tumblr and ko-fi @magic-miraculous!


	4. Chapter 4-- Stakeout, of Sorts

Marinette had barely been able to pay attention in class. It didn’t help that it was a two hour lecture, or that the professor had such a droning voice as he read from the syllabus, or that when she arrived there were only two seats available in the hall that were a) both in the back and b) both under a dim and flickering light fixture.

All she could think about was finding her soulmate. They were out there somewhere, she finally knew that now, but it killed her to know that they were so close but she wasn’t able to find them yet.

She wouldn’t dare leave class early for such a silly reason, but the moment class was over she darted out of the room and made her way back to the quad. Once again, the area was filled with people, none of whom she recognized.

Marinette ended up staying for almost an hour. She sat down on a bench in the area and people-watched, occasionally looking down at her wrist to see if anything had changed. She knew she was within range for anyone that passed through the quad, so she tried to relax a little. Surely they’d pass by again soon, right? Right.

She would’ve stayed longer, but she had another class to get to. Plus, she hadn’t eaten all day, and her stomach was starting to revolt. That could wait until later, though. Class was more important.

***

On the other side of campus, Damian was also getting out of class. He had left Dick in the cafeteria and sat through his short lecture, and as he left the classroom he considered going back to the quad to see if he could find his soulmate again. At the same time, though, part of his mind was telling him to run away and never look back. He was a vigilante, for crying out loud! He couldn’t bring a soulmate into his world and risk their safety like that! Of course, all of his family members who had soulmates were lucky enough to have ones who also were involved in the hero life— Dick and Kori, Bruce and Selina, Jason and Roy— but would he be that lucky? Knowing himself, probably not. Could he take that chance?

No. Not yet, at least. But the counter was still there, taunting him. He took a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it around his wrist to cover the counter and walked back towards his dorm building. He made sure to avoid the quad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know this chapter is super duper short, but I promise the next chapter is much longer, so bear with me!
> 
> Find me on tumblr and Ko-Fi @magic-miraculous!


	5. Chapter 5-- Speculation

“That’s amazing, Marinette!” Chloe said through the phone later that night. “I remember when mine first beeped and I turned and looked at Kagami— god, you know how hot she looks in her fencing uniform? You know. It felt amazing, her looking back at me and everything just coming together.”

“Show off.”

“Sorry, bug! I just mean that when you find whoever this person is, you’ll know. Which will be really helpful, especially because you must be the only people I’ve ever heard of who missed each other like that and were aware they missed each other.”

“What about two people on trains going opposite directions on close tracks?”

“Would there even be enough time for the counter to count that? Like, trains go really fast. You were in a crowd with people walking so slow it  _ hurts _ . God, I hate even  _ thinking _ about foot traffic like that.”

“Not helping!” Marinette told her.

Chloe scoffed. “Excuse you, everything I say is helpful! Right, babe?” Marinette heard a laugh in the background, and Kagami’s voice came through the phone.

“Marinette, what you need to do is be vigilant. Go back there tomorrow every chance you get, and keep going back until they show up. Keep an eye on your counter at all times. Try to pay attention to which people pass multiple times while you’re watching. You aren’t going to get anything done by letting Chloe give you advice and sitting in your room by yourself.”

***

Marinette was never one to turn down Kagami’s advice. The other girl always knew just what to say, even if that something was blunt and often unexpected. So she camped out on a bench in the quad for almost four hours that Saturday, hoping her soulmate would walk by at some point.

The next four hours passed relatively slowly. Marinette may or may not have zoned out once or twice, but fortunately her counter didn’t change while she wasn’t paying attention. Or was that unfortunate? She wasn’t sure if she would rather miss seeing her soulmate again but know they were in the same area as she was or never see her counter change again and never worry about more missed moments between them. They both seemed like terrible options.

After hour five came and went, her computer was about to die. Of course, she had left her charger in her room. Stupid technology. Stupid forgetfulness.  _ Oh, well _ , she thought to herself.  _ I can come back tomorrow, right? _

Unfortunately, she could not. Every time she tried to go back that week, something came up that prevented her from going to search for her soulmate again. Teachers holding the class back for an extra twenty minutes, meetings with her advisor to talk about adjusting to American college life, her roommate Allegra dragging her to club meetings and some new Japanese restaurant off-campus, Adrien or Chloe calling her between classes, and so on. She became increasingly anxious about the whole situation, to the point where she could barely take her eyes off of her wrist, even when she was alone in her room.

“Mari, you’ve got to stop looking at that thing and live a little!” Allegra told her roommate, who had been curled up on her bed for the last two hours, not taking her eyes off the counter. Allegra truly wasn’t sure in Marinette had blinked at all during that time. It had been eight days at that point since her counter changed. “Come on, we’re going out tonight.”

“But it’s a Thursday.”

“You’ve never heard of Thirsty Thursday?”

Marinette shook her head in response.

“I guess it’s not a thing outside of the US. Basically, it’s an extra night of getting drunk and partying. But you don’t have to drink to have a good time!” she added, starting to rummage through her closet. “Come on, pick out something cute and we can head over to that karaoke bar I was telling you about the other day. I still haven’t gotten a chance to go yet, so this is the perfect opportunity!”  
“But I-”

“No buts. This is the perfect opportunity to get your mind off of your soulmate for a few hours, and we can have some quality roomie bonding time!” She held up a short powder-blue dress with a ruffled shoulder and asymmetrical hem. “What do you think?”

Marinette smiled. “I love it. But are you sure it’s a good idea to go off-campus so late?”

“It’s really close, I promise. Just two blocks from the dorms. What are you wearing?”  
Marinette groaned and stood up, dragging herself over to her closet and sifting through the countless finished dresses she’d made for herself in the last year or so that she’d chosen to bring with her. She finally pulled out a dark red knee-length dress with a golden trim around the hem and short sleeves. She also grabbed a golden hairpin (one that looked very similar to the bee miraculous). “What do you think?”

“Ugh, I love it! Put it on, put it on! I think we can be out of here by nine. How does that sound to you?”

“Yeah, that should be good. But to be honest, I am a little… apprehensive?”

“It’ll be fine, I promise! We’ll have fun, forget our sorrows for a few hours, and come back and crash.”

“If you say so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! Finally, a decent length chapter! Also yes, it’s up so soon after the last one! Just a warning; this is the last pre-written chapter, so the next few may be slow to be posted. I’m in schol right now, so I only get so much time to write for myself, you know?
> 
> Find me on tumblr and Ko-Fi @magic-miraculous!


End file.
